Dangerous and tyrannical to limit free speech

I would like to start this letter by commending the editorial staff of the Citizen for printing a wide variety of letters from your readers, my own included. Having said that, let me express my dismay and shock at having read the letter by Jane Kilthei condemning you for publishing Ed Aiken’s recent letter critical of One Cowichan.

It is both dangerous and tyrannical to limit free speech, a fact we are all now just becoming aware of as laws tightening free expression and the recent deplatforming of speakers from college events are applauded, mostly by the left and radical progressives. Kilthei has every right to protest another person’s point of view, but no right to suggest that the inclusion of their opinion is “disappointing.” There lies the slippery slope toward censorship and a call to honour the “right” point of view usually employed by those who want only their viewpoint heard.

If Mr. Aiken has stated his opinion without foul language or a call for violence, then his letter has every right to be printed. I am sure the editors at the Citizen would agree to print it and, again, my hat is off to you for doing so.

Let us also be clear about where most of this censorship is originating from. Since the inception of “political correctness” and the concept of “pronoun approval” and other tactics used by various liberal progressive, powerfully financed left wing groups we have had less freedom to speak our minds than ever before. It is this same liberal progressive cabal that shows up to disrupt meetings, intimidate others and shut down legitimate discourse, so much so that universities are now mere staging grounds for Lib/Prog thought, where once they fought to guarantee free speech. Is this really what we want? Is this democracy?

Please continue to print letters reflecting a wide variety of opinions and viewpoints. Groups such as One Cowichan, arguably much more than just a “one issue” organization, should be encouraging discourse, not engendering the hope that you will limit it or shut it down.